Vampires & Hunters
by DarkFonist
Summary: How Arikado and Julius met Reo; a prequel of sorts to "Tragic Hero."
1. Chapter 1

Arikado looked to the night sky as his black leather shoes clicked against the sidewalk. The light from the surrounding buildings made it difficult to make out the stars, but the shining presence of the full moon was as bright as ever.

The dhampir returned his gaze to the street on which he walked. It was well into the night, and Arikado was alone among the streets save for the streetlights and skyscrapers of the city of Seijo. His current destination was the park that lay in the center of the business district; it was their he had planned to meet with the current Belmont, Julius, and discuss plans to halt Dracula's resurrection.

Dirt was compacted beneath Arikado's feet as he stepped off the sidewalk and onto a dirt path the led to the center of the park. He did not see Julius waiting at the fountain, but he supposed that was to be expected. Arikado was early, and with Julius's brash youth came a cavalier attitude towards punctuality. The dhampir could be patient, however, and would wait.

Arikado felt a strange chill at his back before the silence was broken, an unfamiliar voice shouting from Arikado's side.

"Hey you stupid creature of evil!" The phrase itself would have made Arikado laugh, had his personality been so disposed. It reminded him of what Richter had claimed to have said to his father many years ago when confronting him, in both spirit and forced drama. _'Die monster. You don't belong in this world.'_

Arikado turned, his face expressionless, to see a figure standing atop wall several meters off. It was only appropriate to describe it as a figure; they had positioned themselves strategically so as to be silhouetted against the moon. The voice seemed to be young and male; perhaps a boy in his late teens.

A chuckle came from the unmoving figure, clearly audible despite the distance. "How long I've been waiting for this moment! O wretched demon, we were meant to meet by the moon of fate!" With a shout, the boy leapt from the wall, his arms spread, allowing his cape to billow dramatically behind him. In an impressive show of acrobatics, he then turned the maneuver into a forward flip, landing in a kneeling position near Arikado.

From this position, Arikado could see that the boy had blonde, combed-back hair. He wore a tiara set with a cross, and a large black mantle not too dissimilar to the one Arikado himself had used in times past. Standing slowly and dramatically, eyes closed, the boy spoke softly, as though to himself, but loud enough that Arikado had no problem hearing him.

"Protecting the weak women of this world is my mission. They call me the 'beautiful death.'" His eyes opened, revealing clear blue eyes the reminded Arikado of Maria. The boy smirked and his arm came out from under his cloak, pointing towards the dhampir with a dramatic flair. "I, the vampire hunter Reo, will send you back into the darkness!"

Arikado spoke quickly, "Wait. I am not your enemy." Arikado had not expected to meet another vampire hunter here in Seijo, and had certainly not expected to be attacked by one, considering his half-blood heritage. The hunter looked at him uncertainly for a moment, as if just recognizing him, before shaking his head in dismissal.

"You cannot dissuade me, fiend of the Netherworld! You will end here, by my hand!" Reo's right hand disappeared into his cloak, and Arikado knew he was going to draw a weapon. In a flash, Arikado had his mother's heirloom in his own hand, and skillfully parried the attack, shoving his opponent backwards.

Reo stumbled for a moment, but recovered quickly and moved to Arikado again, striking again. The attacks, however, were simple for Arikado to deflect. The dhampir avoided counterattacking, trying instead to convince Reo that he did not wish to fight.

"Stop! I have no plans of hurting you or anyone in this city!" Arikado's words went unheeded by the cloaked vampire hunter.

"Do you think I'd fall for that?" Reo replied indignantly, though he stayed back from Arikado this time, blue markings appearing beneath his feet. Arikado recognized the beginnings of an ice spell instantly, and a red aura flared to life around him as he prepared a Hellfire to counter.

A cold breeze accompanied the pillars of ice the Reo summoned, but the fireballs Arikado had conjured exploded as they hit them, turning the ice into useless mist. Before the mist could fade, Reo was upon him again, and Arikado brought his sword up to defend against the attack. Two parries, and Arikado locked his blade with Reo's. He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted when another voice shouted at them.

"Jinguji?" Arikado did not recognize it as Julius; he turned and was surprised to notice a vampire with long black hair standing before the two of them, clad in a dark orange outfit with matching cape. Apparently he wasn't in the mood see what's going on, as Arikado could sense the build-up of dark energy that accompanied his own spells. Using Reo's surprise to shove him off balance, Arikado jumped backwards in time to avoid the fire spell the vampire cast.

"Reo! It's Reo!" The black-cloaked hunter shouted at the other vampire, who seemed to be around the same age. "And what are you doing here, Murasame?" Showing a talent for multi-tasking, Reo jumped towards Arikado as he said this, sparks flying as Arikado deflected each strike.

"If you want me to call you Reo, call me Phaid, at least!" The vampire protested, summoned his own sword to his hand and moving into combat. Though two opponents would press most fighters, Arikado was not among 'most fighters,' possessing skill and experience well beyond most. To him, both Phaid and Reo were inexperienced youths, and with some effort he was able to hold both off.

Wanting to create some space, Arikado used his off-hand to produce a card from his pocket, summoning forth his sword familiar. It slashed widely in front of the dhampir, knocking the vampire and the hunter away before disappearing in a flash of light. Arikado used the opportunity to jump backwards.

"Hmph! So you think you can win?" Reo shouted, shifting his grip on his weapon. "Watch, as I destroy you with my ultimate attack!" A glow surrounded the hunter's sword as he began preparing said attack.

Phaid, standing nearby, stepped slightly away as he remarked snidely despite the combat situation, "You sure you brought the right sword this time?" This was meet with a quieter "Shut up!" from Reo.

"Cease this foolishness!" Arikado shouted, trying again to get Reo to think about what he was doing. From what he had seen, it seemed the Reo and Phaid had at least an uneasy alliance, not unlike Julius and himself. Even if he could not immediately convince Reo, perhaps this Phaid would listen to him. "I am not your foe, vampire, vampire hunter! I am merely here to–!"

Suddenly, another shout came from the pair's side. "Arikado!" It was the voice of Julius, running up from an angle behind Arikado. Naturally, Julius wasn't going to ask what was going on; instead, he was simply going to jump into the fray on Arikado's side.

"Belmont, stop–!" Arikado started to protest getting into a fight with some people who weren't really an enemy, but neither Julius nor Reo cared enough to listen.

"Show me your power, Aura Sword!" Reo swung his blade in an upward arc. At the same time, Julius jumped between Arikado and the other hunter, the Vampire Killer whip in his hand, swinging forward to strike.

There was a blast of energy as the two weapons collided, and for a moment the light blinded even Arikado. The force of deflected both Julius and Reo, sending each of them skidding backwards along the paved-stone path. Arikado and Phaid, on the other hand, were both just far enough to be out of range.

"Impossible...! Only a holy power could do that...!" Reo said in disbelief as he stared Julius, who clutched his family's whip tightly, ready to attack again.

"Hmph! It seems your vampire hunting skills just aren't up to par!" Julius smirked at the other teen, and Arikado would have sighed in exasperation; a comment like that was not going to make things any easier. "If you'd paid any attention at all, you'd have seen Arikado was a dhampir!" The comment caught Reo off guard for a moment, but he recovered quickly.

"A half-vampire is still a demon, and I cannot let that stand!" Reo said, cutting the air with his weapon in emphasis.

"Stop talking like a bad movie! You're overly dramatic crap is already getting on my nerves and I don't even know you!" The Belmont replied harshly. Interestingly, this was met with an amused chuckle from Phaid.

"Tell me," Reo started, ignoring Julius's comment. "Why would a vampire hunter help an evil being such as him?" Reo gestured towards Arikado. Phaid scratched the back of his head, and responded first.

"You think maybe they might actually be trying to help?" Phaid started, glancing sideways at Reo. "You know, like _I_ was?"

"It is as I had been saying," Arikado said before Reo could respond. "I am not your enemy. I am here to help plan the end of a menace to humanity...Dracula." This comment brought Reo pause, though Phaid did not seem particularly surprised at the name.

"Don't make me laugh! Dracula doesn't exist!" Reo countered, though his weapon was lowered. The came as a mild surprise to Arikado. If Reo knew Phaid, a vampire, how would he not know of Dracula?

"That shows how much you know!" Julius responded. Arikado felt a headache coming on; the constant shouting of the two hunters annoyed him to no end. "Dracula exists, and my clan has beaten him every time he has resurrected himself!" Reo was silent at this, so Julius continued. "Why else do you think I would help Arikado here? Not just to attack you, although that would be a good enough reason."

"What was that?" Reo's face lit up in anger at the insult, though Phaid seemed amused.

"I said attacking you is a good enough reason in and of itself, pretty boy!" Julius repeated, ready to start the conflict again.

"Pretty boy! Ha!" Reo's anger vanished and was replaced with an arrogant smirk. "An insult from one who has never been fawned over by girls, unlike me!"

"That's enough!" Arikado shouted, trying to prevent the conversation, if it could still be called that, from falling into a insult-throwing argument. "It seems we have much to discuss...perhaps we could find somewhere other than here to do so?" Phaid spoke up at this.

"I have a place we could go to," the vampire said, seeming to be content enough with the cessation of hostilities.

"Very well," Arikado said quickly, hoping to pre-empt any more pointless bickering. Unfortunately, this was not to be, as the two vampire hunters felt the need to incessantly insult each other the entire way, with Phaid occasionally interjecting a comment at Reo's expense.

Arikado rubbed his forehead in exasperation, hoping that this would not end up being more trouble then it was worth... _It will have to be worth a lot_, the dhampir said to himself.

* * *

_That's that, a fic detailing how Arikado and Julius met Reo. I just felt like writing this to envision how I thought the characters would interact when they first met. I suppose it retcons the end of my previous fic "Tragic Hero" a bit in that Arikado has met Phaid, but it's nothing major. I originally wasn't going to have Phaid appear at all but I decided I should write him in to have a bit of vampire-vampire hunter parallel between the two groups._

_It's possible I might write a second chapter that simply details everyone explaining everything to everyone else if there is any interest, but I think it would actually be pretty boring and short, hence why it ends as it does. It is complete enough in my eyes in any case (feel free to try to convince me otherwise in a review, heh)._

_Please read & review both of them, if you will. It's nice to know what people think of my writing skills/style._


	2. Chapter 2

Phaid led the group to a small western-style house in the southwestern section of the city. From it, Arikado could sense a very faint presence of dark magic; he probably would not have noticed if he were not looking for something to distract him from Julius and Reo's annoying chatter.

"Hmph. That's rather small," Reo commented, looking annoyed. "It would have been better if we'd just gone to my mansion."

"Whatever," replied Phaid, and Arikado nearly sighed in relief that the vampire hadn't started yet another pointless argument. "It's bigger on the inside." Phaid stepped up to the door and pushed it open, revealing a rather large living room that seemed to serve as an entryway. It was actually rather lavishly decorated compared to how normal the outside looked.

"Wow, it's actually pretty nice," Julius said as he looked around.

"Morgan, I've brought some people here!" Phaid shouted as he shut the door behind everyone. "Don't freak out when you see them!"

"There's no way..." Reo looked around suspiciously, as if expecting a monster to jump out from behind the furniture. "This is way too big!" And then it suddenly made sense to Arikado; the magic he had sensed earlier must be doing some sort of dimensional manipulation.

"It's dark magic, isn't it?" Arikado turned to Phaid, whose eyebrows went up at the question.

"You could tell?" He nodded. "Yeah, that's right. Ten times as big on the inside as on the out."

There was a creak of a door opening to the group's side, and from it stepped a relatively elderly looking gentlemen with grey hair and a rather large mustache. His attire suggested that he was a butler or similar servant, though Arikado could sense from his aura that he was a vampire as well. Upon noticing who was with Phaid, however, his demeanor changed to shock.

"Young Master–!" he began, but Phaid cut him off.

"Wait, wait. Don't worry about them, Morgan, they're not here to start a fight or anything," the younger vampire said quickly. Arikado stepped up as well.

"Genya Arikado," the dhampir introduced himself. "Forgive us for intruding; we do not bear any ill will. We will make our stay as short as possible."

Morgan, as Phaid had referred to him as, considered this for a moment, before saying something in hushed tones to the vampire next to him. Phaid replied, the two exchanged a few more replies, and then Morgan returned his eyes to the other three.

"Please forgive me for acting rudely. You are guests of the Young Master, after all," he apologized, bowing his head. "Please, follow me, just in here." He opened the door widely and stepped into what appeared to be a dining room of sorts; suitable for the discussion Arikado wanted to have.

"Well, at least he knows his place," said Reo aside, only really audible to Julius and Arikado.

"Oh shut it, you arrogant–" Julius started to reply, but Arikado interrupted him.

"Enough," the dhampir said simply, leaving out the part that the pair's need to incessantly belittle each other was driving him mad. Once in the room, the four took seats at various locations around the table.

"Make yourselves at home," said Morgan. "I will return shortly with some tea."

"Thanks, Morgan," said Phaid. He then turned to Arikado and Julius. "So, how do you want to start? Introductions?" Arikado nodded, and started to speak.

"As I said, I am Genya Arikado. This is Julius, of the Belmont clan of vampire hunters." Julius nodded as Arikado spoke his name.

"I'm Phaid. I guess you already know that I'm a vampire. This here is Jinguji–" Phaid started to introduce hunter next to him, but was interrupted.

"It's Reo," the blonde hunter said as he leaned back into the chair, prompting a 'yeah, whatever' comment from Phaid. Arikado and Julius noticed the name Phaid used, but said nothing of it. At that moment, one of the doors opened, and Morgan entered carrying a tray of tea. After he had given some to each person, Arikado continued speaking.

"Julius and I are here for one reason. I assume you have heard of Dracula?"

Phaid nodded, but Reo spoke up. "You make it sound like he isn't just a story." Julius rolled his eyes at the comment, but thankfully didn't start another shouting match.

"He exists," stated the dhampir. "He has been a menace to humanity for many years, and it is due largely to the efforts of the Belmont clan that he has not become a major threat."

Julius smirked at Reo, who made only a non-committal grunt.

"It's true," said Phaid as he turned to Reo. "He's pretty well known for actively attacking humans when most of us prefer to stay hidden or blend in with them."

"Before we continue," Arikado started, looking to Phaid. "I had a few things I wanted to ask you specifically, Phaid."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Phaid replied in confusion. Arikado stood and motioned to the door to the right.

"Arikado? What are you doing?" Julius asked as Phaid stood and followed Arikado to the door.

"It is of no particular importance. Just a small matter I wish to attend to," Arikado replied as he exited the room.

Phaid flashed a smirk as he stepped out as well, saying, "Play nice!" Reo apparently took offense to the condescending comment, but Phaid had shut the door before he could reply. The blonde hunter sat back in his chair for a moment before sitting forward again.

He turned to Julius. "Julius, you can carry crosses, right?" Julius's eyebrows went up at the questions, but he nodded, wondering what Reo could possibly want them for.

"Yeah, but why would you...?"

"Give me one," Reo said, his eyes focused on the door.

"What?" The red-headed hunter said in confusion. "Just use one of the 50 that you're wearing!" Julius indicated the cross in Reo's tiara and the one on the latch that held his mantle.

"I can't!" Reo replied, sounding annoyed. "These ones are important. Just give me one of yours; trust me, you'll see." Julius sighed and produced one of his crosses from his coat, strung together on a necklace of beads, handing it to Reo.

Taking it in his hand, Reo moved up to the door and hung the cross on the handle before returning to his seat, chuckling. Julius didn't really see what was so funny.

"And the point of that is...?"

"You'll see, just wait..." Reo replied with a devious smile. There was silence as neither Reo nor Julius spoke before the Belmont thought of something to say.

"So what's with the pseudonym?"

Reo looked surprised for moment, but then settled down. "Hmm, I guess Murasame gave it away..." Julius looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

"I'm Akira, of the Jinguji clan of vampire hunters," Reo continued, looking at nothing in particular before returning his gaze to Julius. "But as a hunter, I am Reo." Julius looked at him as though he were crazy.

"Any particular reason?" Julius asked.

"Hmph. I suppose you couldn't understand," Reo said, adopting an arrogant-looking smirk. "You do use your real name after all."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Julius replied angrily. Just what was Reo trying to imply? Before he could go too far, however, Julius caught himself. It was probably just Reo's way of saying 'I don't have a reason' while simultaneously being a jerk. "What about Phaid? You called him Murasame." Reo was silent for a moment.

"I first met him at school three years ago, and that was his name...the 'human' name he was using," Reo said thoughtfully. "I guess I got used to calling him that." Julius got the feeling there was more to the story, but was interrupted from continuing to pry by a shocking sound and a shout from the other side of the room, beyond the door.

"Jin–Reo! What the hell?" Julius heard Phaid call from the other side of the door, and then he understood. It was just a stupid prank; Reo would hang the cross on the door, and Phaid would try to open it...

"You're a jerk," Julius said and he got up and took the cross from the handle. Just as he did so, the door was opened by Arikado, who was not looking pleased.

"It wasn't me!" Julius insisted, despite the fact that he was standing in front of the door holding a cross in his hands.

"Oh?" Arikado said in mock disbelief. The dhampir had a feeling it was probably Reo but felt like making Julius sweat now. It was his way of revenge.

"It _does_ sound like something Jinguji...Reo would do," Phaid said from behind Arikado.

"What's that supposed to mean?" said Reo haughtily, not sounding offended in the least. This could only mean a counterattack. "I got the idea from your girlfriend, after all."

"Hey! Leave Seira out of this!" Phaid said angrily as he slipped past Arikado and into the room. Both Arikado and Julius turned to look at the two.

"Huh," the blonde hunter said thoughtfully. "So it _is_ her that you like." Julius couldn't help but find the path the conversation was taking to be amusing. It was made even more so by the obvious blush that covered the young vampire's face.

"Wh-what? That's...!" Phaid stammered, but Reo kept speaking.

"No worries. It's not like it wasn't obvious, anyway." The hunter waved his hand dismissively.

"You...! S-Shut up before I make you...!" Phaid said, his hands curled tightly at his sides. Reo leapt to a standing position at the comment.

"That a challenge?" Reo said, clearly interpreting it as such.

"Hey, wait...!" Julius started, trying to move between the two. Unfortunately this only added to the problem when he was dragged into yet another nonsensical verbal sparring match.

Arikado, still standing in the doorway, put his hand to his forehead in frustration for the second time tonight. It seemed that things were not going his way at all. About the only information he had managed to obtain was the name of Phaid's girlfriend and some information about the political situation of the non-human groups Phaid knew of. His plan of speaking with Julius about Dracula apparently had gone out the window as well, meaning that the entire series of events he had been forced to put up with so far had been a complete waste of time. He was quite tired of it, and briefly considered letting the three of them go at it, if only to relieve him of having to deal with them.

"Stop this, all of you!" Arikado said loudly, managing to be heard.

"Don't tell me what to do, old man!" Reo retorted immediately.

"You sound like a spoiled kid, yourself!" Phaid shouted in response. "Any vampire could take someone like you on without any trouble."

"Don't push your luck!" Julius said to the vampire. "Vampire hunters aren't as much of a pushover as you think!"

"I don't need you to defend me!" Reo said to the Belmont, raising his own voice above the others.

"I wasn't defending _you_, idiot!" Julius replied.

All Arikado could do was sigh and step slowly out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"Why do I even bother...?" he wondered aloud. Arikado looked up and became aware of Morgan standing nearby him.

"I've found that it's simpler just to let the Young Master do as he pleases," said the vampire, chuckling slightly. "I think they enjoy the arguments, really."

Arikado raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

"I think is how they show friendship to each other," Morgan said thoughtfully. "Julius as well."

"Perhaps so," Arikado said, staring out the window. He chose not to add that they would do well to do it in a less irritating way.

"Or perhaps they simply need someone to beat some sense into them," the vampire added with an amused smile.

Arikado actually smirked at that.

* * *

_And that's the end of that. I probably won't go any further unless I actually get motivation to write a real story. (You know, something with more than two chapters.) Funnily, despite it's length it actually felt like it was dragging on to me._

_I think I might of overdone the argumentativeness of Reo and Phaid in the name of humor, but it was interesting enough to write even if it was a bit much compared to their original game._

_As always...read it and tell me what you think. Comments on characterization especially, as that it one of the most essential elements of fanfiction. Other critique is, of course, welcomed as well._


End file.
